Back
Thu 19 Mar 2015
Henley Hockey Club 
Women 7
2
3
Undefeated League Champions!
Trina Noyes22 Mar 2015 - 11:43
Share via
Nerves were evident as we travelled to Henley keen to keep our unbeaten league record in tact.
Reassurance was not provided when 2 of our key strikers walked in and suggested flood lights did nothing to help their waning eyesight!
But we haven't got to where we are this season by letting mere trifles like that affect us. Faced with a Henley side whose average age was a tad lower than ours, experience and short passes were the name of the game.
We got off to a terrific start, Trina slotting home a fine cross from Sandy and Liz connecting with an arial rebound from a save to see us 2-0 up within 10 minutes. This calmed the nerves but Henley, on the back of a fine late season charge, did not let their heads drop. Our midfield had their hands full trying to keep up with their pacey attack, whilst the back line did their best to minimise our goalie's need to contribute (with our normal keepers not available and all others team tied, Lucy S gamely volunteered to put the pads on - thank you very much).
The nearly forgotten jelly babies were a much needed boost at half time. We just needed to hold our nerve for another 35 minutes. We kept attacking, cheered on by much appreciated travelling fans, winning a short corner. Our recent record on converting short corners was appalling, but never one to be deterred, Sandy took charged and duly slotted home to give us a 3-0 lead.
The rest of the game seemed to last forever, as we tired, reverting to long balls hit in hope for our 'speedy' wingers to chase! With more of us behind the ball helping out the defence, this was never going to work. Lucy made some great saves, but could do nothing to stop 2 bullet like short corner conversions from Henley's experienced skipper. With a mother-daughter combination running the game for Henley, distributing the ball to what seemed like 15 Henley players, the final whistle could not come soon enough. We managed to hang on for a 3-2 win giving us a fine league record of played 18, drawn 2, lost 0. Well done and thanks to all for contributing to a great season.
But we haven't got to where we are this season by letting mere trifles like that affect us. Faced with a Henley side whose average age was a tad lower than ours, experience and short passes were the name of the game.
We got off to a terrific start, Trina slotting home a fine cross from Sandy and Liz connecting with an arial rebound from a save to see us 2-0 up within 10 minutes. This calmed the nerves but Henley, on the back of a fine late season charge, did not let their heads drop. Our midfield had their hands full trying to keep up with their pacey attack, whilst the back line did their best to minimise our goalie's need to contribute (with our normal keepers not available and all others team tied, Lucy S gamely volunteered to put the pads on - thank you very much).
The nearly forgotten jelly babies were a much needed boost at half time. We just needed to hold our nerve for another 35 minutes. We kept attacking, cheered on by much appreciated travelling fans, winning a short corner. Our recent record on converting short corners was appalling, but never one to be deterred, Sandy took charged and duly slotted home to give us a 3-0 lead.
The rest of the game seemed to last forever, as we tired, reverting to long balls hit in hope for our 'speedy' wingers to chase! With more of us behind the ball helping out the defence, this was never going to work. Lucy made some great saves, but could do nothing to stop 2 bullet like short corner conversions from Henley's experienced skipper. With a mother-daughter combination running the game for Henley, distributing the ball to what seemed like 15 Henley players, the final whistle could not come soon enough. We managed to hang on for a 3-2 win giving us a fine league record of played 18, drawn 2, lost 0. Well done and thanks to all for contributing to a great season.
Further reading